Japan Trip 2019, Day 8: Not for the faint-hearted

Already I can see that there’s no way we’ll be able to see all there is to offer here in this mountainous prefecture. Distances aren’t great, but you can’t travel very fast. The roads just aren’t straight enough or wide enough.

We decided to take it easy today: just check out a couple of nearby shrines in neighbouring Shingu City, and then have a cosy lunch at a recommended place in the mountains. What could be simpler? Read on …

Kumano Hayatama Taisha

It started simply enough. We drove to Shingu to see the Kumano Hayatama Shrine, which is the third of the three Kumano Grand Shrines, making it, more or less, a trifecta for us. This shrine was quieter, and more spacious feeling than yesterday’s shrines and temples, and its well maintained, dramatic vermillion red made it a visual delight. It too has a very old and venerated tree, an 800-year-old Nagi-no-Ki (broadleaf podocarpus) tree. We enjoyed our quiet early morning visit here.

Kamikura-Jinja

Then, we decided to visit its associated shrine, the nearby Kamikura-Jinja. This is an old shrine located halfway up Mt. Gongenyama, where the gods are said to have first descended to earth. It is at the top of a steep cliff, and is reached by climbing 500 plus steep, very rough and uneven stone steps, which, one site I read said, was “not for the fainthearted”. With Len wanting a quiet day, and me being a bit of a climbing/heights wuss, I magnanimously suggested to Len that we needn’t do it, albeit did look dramatic. Len suggested, however, we try, so we did. Around one-third of the way up, I decided I could be among the faint-hearted, and with Len not being well, I reiterated that we didn’t have to do this. However, engineer Len hates not to achieve a goal, once started. He checked Google satellite view, and suggested we do the next visible section, and decide from there. I said, “Ok, as long as you agree we can return if it looks like more of the same.” So, up we went. This bit was, admittedly, still rough but not quite as steep and scary. At the top of this section it looked like it was pretty straightforward from there, so we continued to the top.

At the top is a large, sacred rock called Gotobiki-iwa, which is revered as the home of one of the shrine’s deities. The shrine has one ot the best views of Shingu and the Kumano-nada Sea. For us, though, it was a big achievement – but we still had to get down, and sometimes I find going down harder. The fact that I packed away my camera to keep all hands free tells you how seriously I took this. I did not want to fall! Heard that before?

Going down was challenging, and there were places where I did it from a low squat, but we did it. We met a few Japanese in both directions, mostly single men, but one or two younger couples too. Some of the men encouraged us on, saying things like “slowly slowly”. As if we’d do anything else – but it was kind of them. It was a good feeling to reach the bottom. We are really glad we did it. I’m not much into views of cities, but that rock with its shrine really was something.

The whole experience reminded us of doing the big climb to Kompirasan at Kotohira in 2011. That wasn’t dangerous in the same way, but at nearly 1370 steps going up up up, it was very demanding.

Anyhow, we thought that was our challenge for the day, but read on …

Coffee Break

First though, we were in need of a coffee break, and Google came to our aid by identifying a cafe en route to the mountains. It was called Miruriina (Miru and Riina being the owners’ daughters’ names). This cafe overlooks the Kumano river and had a choice of seating: Japanese-style (ie remove your shoes and sit on a cushion at a low table) overlooking the river, or western-style sitting in the dark centre of the cafe. I don’t know what you would choose, but we chose the light and the view. It was one of those friendly, eclectic Japanese places that make you feel comfortable. They, like about half the restaurants we’ve been to to date, had an English menu. Also like a goodly percentage of Japanese places we’ve experienced over the years, the background music was jazz. The Japanese, we’ve noticed before, seem to like jazz, but perhaps this is a silly generalisation!

Anyhow, suitably fortified, we drove on through densely green covered mountains and beside rivers to …

Kiri no Sato Takahara

We love eating at homely, local places and this was advertised as offering “a healthy lunch with a mountain view.” Sounded perfect for our quiet day! The rest of the promo said “Take a drive into the heart of the prefecture. The mountain roads are winding but generally wide and well-kept. Enjoy the scenery as you climb up to the Organic Hotel—Kirinosato Takahara.”

Well, the last 3kms of the drive were very, very narrow, essentially single lane. Even the GPS specifically warned us to take care as we entered this section of the drive! Narrow roads are one thing on the flat, but quite another on mountains. The few times we met vehicles coming down as we were going up demanded a lot of care. I didn’t like it much! Funnily enough, as with the morning’s walk, the return in which we were on the edge side, wasn’t as bad.

Anyhow, the name of the hotel comes from the fact that the little village of Takahara is known as “Kiri-no-Sato” (Village in the Mist) because its scenic mountain vistas are often covered in mist. Not today though. We were offered a table inside or a bench seat outside at a “counter” overlooking the mountains. I’m sure you can guess what we chose. It was a perfect day – overcast so no sun to heat us up, mild temperature (around 25°C), and no wind. It was truly blissful.

The menu was very small, with about four mountain-style food options. I chose their version of curry rice, and Len their lunch of the day set. Each cost Y1000. How many places can you eat honest homestyle food at that price with that view! For drinks, I had water and Len apple juice. When it came to paying the bill, the server pointed to the apple juice on the account and said “present”! This has happened to us before in Japan, though we can’t always tell why? I don’t think it was because we were westerners, as I think they have a few who come to walk the Kumano Kodo. But, who knows?

As we walked back down the road to our car, we ran into a group of four Americans doing the pilgrimage. At least two were from Seattle, and we had a brief but pleasant English-language interchange until we went our different directions.

The drive home

It was quite a long drive home, back down the mountain towards Tanabe City, and then on through Kushimoto and other costal villages home. In Kushimoto we spied a Japanese sweet shop, that is, one selling prepackaged wagashi, like doryaki. Len can’t resist them and so of course we stopped and bought three individual pieces, totalling a princely Y705. When the shopkeeper, who had minimal English, packaged them, she picked up another little box on her counter, added it to the paper bag with our goodies in it, and said, you guessed it, “present”! Again, what we did to deserve that? We had no idea, but how lovely.

Hashigui-iwa Rocks

I had thought that tomorrow might be our explore-the-coast day, but on the way home we couldn’t resist stopping at the dramatic Hashigui-iwa (“bridge pillar rocks”) Rocks in Kushimoto, the main town next to ours. This is a series of rocks leading in a line away from the coast, a geological formation caused by the weathering of softer rock. However, legend has it that these rocks were created by the famous Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi after being challenged by a monster to build a bridge across the sea. The smaller rocks, we understand, were left there by a tsunami! Anyhow, they are dramatic, and are now protected by a national park. Although it was after 4pm when we saw them, there was a steady flow of Japanese visitors to the site too.

In this area were several signs for a Tsunami Evacuation Point. Hmm… the USA has its drive-by shooting and earthquake drills and plans, while we have our bushfire plans, but in Japan, it seems, it’s tsunami plans.

Such was our simple day. We left our hotel before 8.30am, and didn’t get back until 5pm. We were a little tired.

The day ended with dinner at Shippo, the izakaya-style restaurant where we’d lunched yesterday. I enjoyed my Sashimi of Tuna set, while Len chose small dishes. It was a relief being able to walk – along a flat road – for our last meal of the day!

And some Stills…

And some Movies…

Click here to view today’s video clips

Today’s Challenges …

• Surviving the Kamikura (kamikaze?) jinja walk.
• Surviving the Kiri no Sato drive.
• Having a quiet day – not!
• Navigating teeny-tiny town roads, that look like driveways.